I came across this odd phenomenon in a small number of Burrowing Owls and thought you guys would enjoy seeing it.
It doesn’t seem to be well documented yet, even though a number of people seem to be aware of it. I’ve seen people list the cause as blindness, a generic disorder caused by inbreeding, a recessive genetic trait, something that only occurs in juveniles, and blindness.
The original photo I saw, and the main post photo got an award. I went looking for others and found this thread on a photography site.
The photographer noticed in the family of owls, most had the standard yellow eyes, but others had black or best black eyes, so they returned to try to get better pictures.
If you zoom in on these, you can see they are a mix of yellow and black.
From the forum photographer:
So far, there has not been any conclusion as to why are the eyes so black. Some said that younger owls are born like this. But that is not true, since I’ve taken many pictures of very young owls with normal yellow and black eyes. One person posted this link saying it may be a certain type of burrowing owl only found in Cape coral Florida. Also, not true, since that is on the other coast of Florida and I am on the east coast of Florida.
I personally think it is a genetic issue with only a VERY few owls that have this condition. Anyway, if anyone has any concrete proof or suggestions what causes this condition, I would be very interested in hearing what you have to say. Thanks for viewing.
Zeus is a well documented blind Western Screech Owl with a similar looking condition.
He was found after hitting a house due to his poor vision. He’s got his own Instagram and everything. Here’s a good write-up on him, with a bunch of photos.
Similar, but while Zeus’ eyes look abnormal in both iris and cornea, the burrowing owls’ eyes look normal (to me) - except for the coloring. I wonder if that many blind owls would survive in the wild.
Or, maybe the coloring is unrelated to blindness in Zeus?
This should make it easier for everyone to see, they do look like very different conditions.
From this article that discusses his conditions:
According to the Wildlife Learning Center where Zeus now lives, he was diagnosed with “conjunctivitis, corneal degeneration, endotheliopathy, anterior uveitis, most likely caused by a traumatic event like flying into something or being attacked by a predator.
Zeus’ condition is a capsular cataract and the white flecks that glisten in his eyes are the result of fibrin and blood pigment clots. These pigments cause a unique appearance that some have described as a “view of the Universe” quality in his eyes, for which he is now well-known for. Hence the name Zeus, the Greek God of sky and thunder.
In humans, here is a little chart of cataract types, and the subcapsular looks the most like what Zeus has, but owl eyes are very different than human eyes, so this is just for comparison.
Also, not true, since that is on the other coast of Florida and I am on the east coast of Florida.
Florida is like 100 miles across. I wouldn’t think it would be a challenge for a species to range from one coast to the other.
Definitely plausible. People don’t typically think of Burrowing Owls as flyers, but they definitely are.
I took it as the person saying “hey, I’m no scientist. What the heck do I know?”
Florida also has a smaller, darker subspecies of Eastern Screech Owl, Otus asio floridanus.
My God, it’s full of stars!
That was my first thought, too! 😂
That is so cool 😮
I thought you guys would enjoy some extra special Burrow Owls!
These owls must know the secrets of the universe!
Why do you think they live in bunkers? 😆
